Ex-minister Basharat Bukhari rejoins PDP

Srinagar, July 4

Former J&K minister Syed Basharat Bukhari on Thursday rejoined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), from which he was expelled in 2018. Bukhari, a former broadcaster, has switched many sides since leaving the PDP in 2018.

A former MLA from north Kashmir’s Sangrama constituency, Bukhari joined the National Conference in December 2018 after his expulsion from the PDP.

In 2021, Bukhari left the National Conference to join the People’s Conference led by Sajad Lone.

In June 2023, the People’s Conference, however, announced that it had expelled Bukhari from the party for indulging in “anti-party activities.”

In the recently held Lok Sabha elections, Bukhari, who held important portfolios in the BJP-PDP coalition government, however, threw his weight behind National Conference vice-president and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Omar, who had contested from the Baramulla parliamentary constituency, lost to Engineer Rashid by over two lakh votes.

On Thursday, the PDP announced that Bukhari had re-joined the party.

“Welcome back, Basharat Bukhari Sahab. Looking forward to strengthening the party at grassroots level,” the PDP posted on X.

The joining of Bukhari, however, has come at a time when several political leaders are in touch with the PDP for their return to the party. While names of many leaders from the Apni Party and People’s Conference have come up, at least three leaders from two parties have publicly denied being in talks with the PDP for their return terming the reports as “baseless and malicious.”

PDP sources, however, said that many leaders who left the PDP, were interested in returning to the party. “No decision has been yet taken about such leaders,” a PDP leader said on Thursday.